Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pamela Moleri, Bryan J. Wilkins
Summary: The utilization of an expanded genetic code and in vivo unnatural amino acid crosslinking has become a reliable system for studying protein-protein interactions. The pBPA crosslinker, activated by low energy radiation, has provided extensive structural and mechanistic data, making it a valuable tool in protein analysis. By combining the expanded genetic code system with UV activation, spatial control and spatiotemporal understanding of protein-protein dynamics can be achieved.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lisanne Sellies, Ruud L. E. G. Aspers, Martin C. Feiters, Floris P. J. T. Rutjes, Marco Tessari
Summary: In recent years, the scope of non-hydrogenative parahydrogen hyperpolarization (nhPHIP) techniques has been expanding, allowing for the detection and quantification of unmodified alpha-amino acids in complex mixtures. This method has shown great potential as demonstrated in human urine samples.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wenbing Cao, Xuewen Qin, Yong Wang, Zhen Dai, Xianyin Dai, Haoyu Wang, Weimin Xuan, Yingming Zhang, Yu Liu, Tao Liu
Summary: A general host-guest molecular recognition approach involving modification of protein functional surfaces with genetically encoded unnatural amino acids has been developed in this study, which can reversibly regulate protein function through molecular recognition, providing valuable tools for studying protein functions.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Luiz Lannes Loureiro, Tathiany Jessica Ferreira, Fabio Luiz Candido Cahue, Victor Zaban Bittencourt, Ana Paula Valente, Anna Paola Trindade Rocha Pierucci
Summary: This study compared the effects of pea protein and whey protein supplementation on biochemical and metabolic parameters in soccer players. The results showed that the pea protein group had slight advantages in some biochemical markers, but these differences were not sufficient to justify the choice of a particular type of protein. However, the results highlighted the viability of plant protein as a potential alternative to animal protein without compromising athletic performance or recovery.
FRONTIERS IN NUTRITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Jose A. C. Delgado, Jose T. M. Correia, Emanuele F. Pissinati, Marcio W. Paixao
Summary: This technology utilizes alkyl radicals to selectively alkylate dehydroalanine, offering a convenient method for the synthesis of unnatural amino acids and late-stage functionalization of pharmaceuticals.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Alemayehu Gashaw Woldegiorgis, Zhao Han, Xufeng Lin
Summary: An enantioselective synthesis of unnatural pyrazole-based alpha-chiral amino acid derivatives was developed using a chiral spirocyclic phosphoric acid catalyst, with yields ranging from 67-98% and enantioselectivities of 73-99%. The NH2 functionality in the products enables further transformations to a chiral thiourea and a lactam, providing a versatile synthetic route for obtaining tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenters in pyrazole-based alpha-amino acid derivatives.
ADVANCED SYNTHESIS & CATALYSIS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Benjamin Klemm, Reece W. Lewis, Irene Piergentili, Rienk Eelkema
Summary: The authors developed a new chemical reaction network (CRN) that allows for control over the deactivation kinetics of artificial materials, enabling them to autonomously respond to their environment. By reversible formation of positive charges and using nucleophilic signals, the deactivation process is controlled. This concept not only offers new opportunities in molecular cargo delivery, but also paves the way for next-generation interactive materials.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Xinjie Chen, Yingying Liu, Jiaqi Hou, Yuan Lu
Summary: The study proposed a cell-free unnatural protein synthesis system based on linear DNA templates for rapid high-throughput screening and evolution, selecting optimal OTS components for UNAAs. Screening results showed that the o-aaRS and o-tRNA of pPaF demonstrated good orthogonality, while a new pair for pBpF was identified, demonstrating the efficiency of this method in accelerating the screening process for versatile UNAAs.
SYNTHETIC AND SYSTEMS BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Capucine Jourdain de Muizon, Sridevi M. Ramanoudjame, Lucie Esteoulle, Claude Ling, Germain Brou, Nicolas Anton, Thierry Vandamme, Marc-Andre Delsuc, Dominique Bonnet, Bruno Kieffer
Summary: The conjugation of bioactive apelin-17 peptide with a fluorocarbon chain results in the self-organization of the peptide into micelles. Fluorine NMR spectroscopy studies show that the micelles of fluoropeptide are monodisperse, while proton NMR indicates that the peptide moiety remains largely disordered despite micellization. A very fast exchange rate between the free and micellar states of the peptide is measured, enabling the estimation of around 200 molecules present in the micelle, consistent with values found using dynamic light scattering measurements.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nils Baeumer, Eduardo Castellanos, Bartolome Soberats, Gustavo Fernandez
Summary: Crowding effects play a crucial role in the functionality of biological systems, but their role in artificial systems has been largely unexplored. In this study, the authors demonstrate that crowding effects have a strong and distinct control on the kinetics, pathways, and outcomes of supramolecular polymerization processes. The presence of a pre-formed supramolecular polymer as a crowding agent causes a model supramolecular polymer to undergo a morphological transformation in its self-assembly behavior, resulting in flower-like hierarchical assemblies. These results highlight the potential of accessing diverse morphologies and properties in supramolecular polymers by leveraging crowding effects.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yujun Li, Jie Yang, Xinxin Geng, Pan Tao, Yanling Shen, Zhishan Su, Ke Zheng
Summary: This article presents a single-step radical approach for the modular synthesis of functionally diverse alpha-tertiary amino acids (ATAAs). The synthesis takes place under mild conditions without the use of metals, photocatalysts, or other additives. The method demonstrates broad functional group tolerance and late-stage applicability, as well as gram-scale synthesis via flow chemistry. Mechanistic studies reveal the key intermediate in the reaction.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yiyin Xia, Janet To, Ning-Yu Chan, Side Hu, Heng Tai Liew, Seetharamsing Balamkundu, Xiaohong Zhang, Julien Lescar, Surajit Bhattacharjya, James P. Tam, Chuan-Fa Liu
Summary: This study found that Asn(OH) is an unnatural substrate for PALs, and successfully synthesized a new MMP2 inhibitor cyclic peptide using Asn(OH)-mediated cyclization, with the hydroxamic acid moiety as the key pharmacophore. Several bioactive Asp-containing cyclic peptides were also synthesized using this approach, demonstrating the effectiveness of substrate engineering in expanding the application of PAL ligation in the synthesis of therapeutic cyclic peptides.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yingwei Wang, Li-Fan Deng, Xia Zhang, Ze-Dong Mou, Dawen Niu
Summary: A general approach for making unnatural amino acids from cysteine derivatives was reported, utilizing an intramolecular radical substitution process to generate alkyl radicals. The generated alkyl radicals participated in diverse C-C bond forming events under mild, photocatalytic conditions at room temperature, and could be performed open to air. The utility of these transformations was further demonstrated in the straightforward synthesis of various previously inaccessible unnatural amino acids and peptides.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xi Hu, Yu Sun, Xiaoqi Zhou, Bo Zhang, Hanxi Guan, Fan Xia, Shuangying Gui, Xueqian Kong, Fangyuan Li, Daishun Ling
Summary: Drug loading affects the rigidity of polymeric micelles, and micelles with moderate drug loading exhibit higher cellular uptake and cytotoxicity. NMR measurements reveal the impact of drug loading on micellar rigidity.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dalia Naser, Michael Tarasca, Bruna Siebeneichler, Anna Schaefer, Harmeen K. Deol, Tyler G. B. Soule, Johnathan Almey, Susan Kelso, Gyana G. Mishra, Hilary Simon, Elizabeth M. Meiering
Summary: Protein aggregation plays a central role in aging, disease and biotechnology. This study used NMR quenched amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange, FTIR, and Congo red binding to analyze cellular inclusion bodies of immature human superoxide dismutase mutants. The results revealed multiple aggregation-prone regions in SOD1 and provided insights into the pathways of aggregation.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Yunfei Hu, Kai Cheng, Lichun He, Xu Zhang, Bin Jiang, Ling Jiang, Conggang Li, Guan Wang, Yunhuang Yang, Maili Liu
Summary: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a well-established method for analyzing protein structure and dynamics, with rapid development allowing for studies in physiological environments. In-cell NMR has become crucial for bridging the gap between structural biology and cell biology.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shannon L. Speer, Wenwen Zheng, Xin Jiang, I-Te Chu, Alex J. Guseman, Maili Liu, Gary J. Pielak, Conggang Li
Summary: Protein-protein interactions are more influenced by chemical interactions than hard-core repulsions in cells; increasing negative charge on the homodimer surface enhances stability in cells; oocytes are less crowded than E. coli cells, leading to greater stability of protein complexes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Bin Yuan, Zhiming Zhou, Bin Jiang, Ghulam Mustafa Kamal, Xu Zhang, Conggang Li, Xin Zhou, Maili Liu
Summary: CORDY is a novel approach for NMR spectroscopy that utilizes concentration order to separate and quantify components in complex samples, by utilizing prior information of chemical shift distribution and line shape characteristics to shrink the solution space, it generates a pseudo-two-dimensional spectrum. The combination of CORDY and DOSY (CORDY-DOSY) has been found to be more efficient in resolving molecules with similar concentrations or self-diffusion coefficients.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
Yunshan Pei, Xiaoli Liu, Kai Cheng, Guohua Xu, Ling Jiang, Conggang Li
Summary: Human protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) with its bb' domain responsible for client binding and a, a' domains catalyzing disulfide bond rearrangement, plays crucial roles in the endoplasmic reticulum. The x linker and a' domain are major dynamic regions for full-length PDI, while the b'xa' construct represents the minimum functional domain within full-length PDI. A new preparation strategy using 1,6-hexanediol and NMR chemical shift assignments for the monomer b'xa' domain is reported.
BIOMOLECULAR NMR ASSIGNMENTS
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
Yuting Guo, Chendie Yao, Kai Cheng, Qiong Wu, Guohua Xu, Ling Jiang, Conggang Li
Summary: Japanese encephalitis virus is a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes, causing a large number of infections, especially in Asian countries. There are currently no specific antiviral drugs to treat infections caused by this virus. The capsid protein C plays a key role in the virus lifecycle, but its assembly mechanism remains unclear.
BIOMOLECULAR NMR ASSIGNMENTS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Zhiwei Miao, Qianqian Wang, Xiongjie Xiao, Ghulam Mustafa Kamal, Linhong Song, Xu Zhang, Conggang Li, Xin Zhou, Bin Jiang, Maili Liu
Summary: Protein secondary structure is crucial for understanding protein structure, and recent advancements in deep neural networks have greatly improved the accuracy of predicting protein secondary structures. The proposed deep neural network based on biLSTM showed superior prediction accuracy compared to existing methods in predicting 3-state protein secondary structures. A web server has been developed based on this method to provide protein secondary structure prediction service.
JOURNAL OF BIOMOLECULAR NMR
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yangzhuoyue Jin, Gangjin Yu, Tairan Yuwen, Dawei Gao, Guan Wang, Yilin Zhou, Bin Jiang, Xu Zhang, Conggang Li, Lichun He, Maili Liu
Summary: Serum albumin (SA) is an abundant extracellular chaperone protein that can modify the folding free energy landscape of its client proteins, altering the equilibrium between different conformations and increasing the population of excited states.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guohua Xu, Jiajing Zhao, Hao Yu, Chen Wang, Yangyu Huang, Qiang Zhao, Xin Zhou, Conggang Li, Maili Liu
Summary: This research reports the solution structure of a DNA aptamer complexed with ochratoxin A (OTA), revealing the structural basis for its high-affinity binding. The study finds that OTA specifically binds at the junction between the double helix and G-quadruplex through pi-pi stacking, halogen bonding, and hydrophobic interaction. The presence of a strong halogen bond between OTA and the aptamer is the key to discriminating the strong binding toward OTA.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Gangjin Yu, Guan Wang, Mojie Duan, Bin Jiang, Xu Zhang, Conggang Li, Lichun He, Maili Liu
Summary: An alignment medium based on the self-assembled (FK)(4) oligopeptide is presented, showing excellent properties in measuring anisotropic NMR parameters in both D2O and CD3OD. The alignment medium is easy to prepare, has low viscosity, and provides fast, stable, and homogeneous alignment, allowing for high-quality NMR spectra. Its performance in residual dipolar coupling measurements and diastereomer discriminations is demonstrated, and its potential use for the quantification and identification of enantiomers of small molecules is revealed.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Liang Luo, Qiong Wu, Shixia Ji, Yixiang Liu, Kai Cheng, Maili Liu, Ling Jiang, Conggang Li
Summary: Liquid-liquid phase separation is a common phenomenon in biological processes, where biomolecules in the separated droplets experience a different environment compared to cellular or aqueous solution. By using F-19-NMR spectroscopy, we quantitatively characterized the thermodynamics and exchange kinetics of the SH3 domain protein in the condensed phase of DDX4N1 protein. Our findings suggest that the local ordered microstructure and heterogeneity in the condensates play significant roles in modulating the biophysical properties of enveloped proteins.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shizhen Chen, Long Xiao, Yu Li, Maosong Qiu, Yaping Yuan, Rui Zhou, Conggang Li, Lei Zhang, Zhong-Xing Jiang, Maili Liu, Xin Zhou
Summary: FCy7-NO2, a novel dual-mode NIR fluorescence and F-19 MRI agent, is proposed for imaging tumor hypoxia, showing rapid monitoring of nitroreductase in tumors and sensitive detection over a broad concentration range without limits to imaging depth by integrating two complementary imaging technologies.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Shizhen Chen, Maosong Qiu, Ruifang Wang, Lei Zhang, Conggang Li, Chaohui Ye, Xin Zhou
Summary: In this study, we engineered a photoresponsive nanohybrid for the trimodal imaging and photothermal therapy of lung cancer. The nanohybrid exhibited superior imaging performance and therapeutic effect, and is expected to play an important role in early diagnosis of lung cancer.
BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhaofei Chai, Qiong Wu, Kai Cheng, Xiaoli Liu, Zeting Zhang, Ling Jiang, Xin Zhou, Maili Liu, Conggang Li
Summary: With the introduction of a high-sensitivity tag, proteins can be observed at atomic resolution in their native cellular environment, significantly expanding the scope of protein NMR.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Qiong Wu, Xiaoli Liu, Zhaofei Chai, Kai Cheng, Guohua Xu, Ling Jiang, Maili Liu, Conggang Li
Summary: This study reports the conformation and interaction of a newly discovered lanthanide ion binding protein, LanM, with Ln(3+) in Escherichia coli cells using in-cell NMR technique. It was found that LanM remains unfolded and fails to bind Ln(3+) due to the abundance of phosphate groups in Escherichia coli cells.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhaofei Chai, Qiong Wu, Kai Cheng, Xiaoli Liu, Ling Jiang, Maili Liu, Conggang Li
Summary: The study established a F-19 NMR platform for simultaneous detection of various thiols and generating unique two-dimensional codes in different environments. This method can reliably quantify thiol drug content in tablets, discriminate thiols in living cells, and monitor thiol-related metabolism pathways at the atomic level. This versatile platform can be extended to detect the activity of thiol-related enzymes such as gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase.
